


Harmony

by AtheistGamer, Creativeguy39, The4uthor



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Eventual Romance, F/M, Fluff and Angst, High School, Humor, M/M, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon AU, Politics, Teen Romance, monorails
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:07:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25833970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AtheistGamer/pseuds/AtheistGamer, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Creativeguy39/pseuds/Creativeguy39, https://archiveofourown.org/users/The4uthor/pseuds/The4uthor
Summary: Behold, the story of how all it takes to screw up a Pokemon high school's intricate social web is a lone Jolteon. Well, there's more to the story, too. But that's a hefty chunk of it. May have lemons in later chapters.
Relationships: Blacky | Umbreon/Thunders | Jolteon
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	1. Prologue

Concordia… what a place.

Our protagonist’s family had arrived at the harbour early that afternoon. It had been an hour’s carriage ride from there to their new home in the Greatwoods. For the seventeen year-old Jolteon, this meant all sorts of new sights and scents. Because of where his family had lived up until this move, he had never laid his eyes upon a forest proper. It was more beautiful than any book or video could ever show. And this was what he would be seeing on a daily basis now!

He claimed the bedroom on the ground floor while his moms took the upstairs master bedroom. There was lots of unpacking and settling in to do. Starting with the living room and then kitchen and then their rooms and pretty much everywhere else in the house.

When Konton had finally finished setting up his room, he stepped outside for a moment to appreciate the scenery. The sun was now lower in the sky, the darkness gathering in the forest and concentrating into a peaceful night time atmosphere. He sat himself down in the dirt and grass in front of their home, still euphoric at the fact that they were here.

That they were in Concordia.

There was the sound of footsteps behind him. He looked over his shoulder to behold his mom, a Flareon named Caroline, coming up next to him.

“Hey, Konton.” she greeted calmly. “Have you finished unpacking your room?”

He nodded, still focused on seeing and hearing his surroundings. The sound of Kricketune was audible in the woods as his mom sat next to him.

“What do you think?” she inquired, looking around with him.

“This place is nothing like home.” Konton answered.

“Is that a bad thing?”

He looked at the Fire-Type with a silly grin and shook his head. “No. I love it.”

His mom chuckled quietly at the answer. “We haven’t seen all of it, either. The Greatwoods are only a small part of Concordia.”

“And I thought we’d explore one of the other parts tonight.” a third voice rang from behind them. They didn’t need to turn around to know that it was Carmen, Konton’s stepmom.

The Cinccino came up in between her wife and stepson, who were both marginally taller than her, with the face of someone who had an idea. “I was talking with the Mudsdale who was pulling our cart, and he recommended an inn out west in the plains. Apparently the food there is the shit.”

“We’re not staying there overnight, are we?” his mom asked warily. “We’re not spending money on a room there when we have a new house we haven’t even slept in yet.”

Carmen waved her paws in front of her. “Oh, no, I meant the restaurant there. They’re willing to serve you whether you’re staying at the inn or not. So, I thought we could have a celebratory night out.”

Konton’s mom shrugged as a means of expressing her neutrality on the idea, leaving his stepmom to turn to him with her signature quizzical look.

“Uhhh, yeah, sure. I like the idea.” he replied. The prospect of food alone was reason enough for him to want to go.

Claiming that she knew where to go, the Cinccino of the family led her wife and stepson due west, to the inn. Her claim proved to be false as they got lost. After a half hour of looking aimlessly, they asked a Pachurisu for directions to the inn, and he was able to point them to it.

“My feet are sore…” Konton complained as the trio trudged through the plains. His mom looked pained as well, but held her tongue.

“Aw, quit complaining. Look, the inn’s right there.” His stepmom pointed out in the distance, and sure enough, there was a rather large wooden building.

They came closer, picking up their pace as their noses began to detect the various delicious scents coming from the inn’s open windows. As they reached its front entrance, there was a Sylveon waiting at the door for them, wearing a handsome, crimson-coloured suit accompanied by a white cravat.

“Would you like a room, or a table for three, sir and ma’ams?”

“We’ll take a table for three, thank you.” Konton’s mom answered before his stepmom could. Without another word, instead opting for a polite smile, the Sylveon gestured with one of his ribbons for the family to follow him.

He ended up leading them to a patio that they hadn’t been able to see on the other side of the building. He handed each of them a menu as they sat down, told them their waitress would be with them shortly, and then swiftly trotted away, assumably back to his previous post.

“Impressive.” Konton’s stepmom remarked after an awed whistle. The other two at the table were simply glad to be off their paws for a while.

“Do you mean the sky when you say that?” his mom asked. The conversation would have continued if the three of them didn’t see someone approaching their table, starting with Konton. It was a rather small-framed Umbreon girl, with a bushier tail than what would be considered normal for her species. Unlike the Sylveon that had led them to their seats, she wasn’t wearing any clothes, though they could guess at who she was by the pen and paper clutched in her maw.

As she reached them, the pen and paper fell out from her maw and into her paws in one fluid motion, perfectly enough that it was clear she had had practice. “Hello, Cinccino and ‘lutions! My name is Harmony, and I’ll be serving you this evening. To start off, can I take your orders for drinks?”

“I’ll take a water, please.” his mom stated with a polite smile.

“Uhh, could I have Oran lemonade, please?” Konton ordered rather quietly.

“O-kay.” The Umbreon finished writing down the two orders as she looked to Carmen. “And for you?”

His stepmom was staring intently at the menu. “I’ll try one of your mojitos, please.”

“Carmen!” his mom chastised.

“What?” the Normal-Type defended. “It’s our first night here! Let me enjoy myself a little! You know I’m responsible about this kind of stuff!”

His mom stopped to consider this. “You’re right. I do.” she said quietly.

Harmony was still standing there awkwardly. “So… a mojito it is, then?”

“Yup!” his stepmom replied with a grin. Harmony wrote the order down.

“I’ll be back with your drinks in a little bit.” And just as quickly as she had come, Harmony was gone, leaving the three alone again. This was Carmen’s cue to put a reassuring paw on her wife’s shoulder.

“Look, I know that you don’t like alcohol, and I understand. But I’ll be fine. I’m not him.”

Caroline nodded and smiled. “I know. Sorry for getting mad.”

“So, what’s this area called?” Konton questioned, ending the moment. “I know that where we live is called the Greatwoods, but that’s it.”

His stepmom was the one to answer. “This place is called the Pink Fields, named after the wild flowers that grow out and around.”

“Pink flowers? I didn’t see any.” Konton pointed out.

“That’s because the sun was halfway below the horizon by the time we got here.” his mom pointed out. “They’ll be more visible in the daylight.”

Their conversation was cut short once again by Harmony, doing a weird sort of three-legged walk as she carried a tray with the trio’s drinks. The mojito was by far the fanciest-looking.

“Now, before I take your orders, I just have a question.” Harmony began as she placed the three glasses down at their respective places. “You said this is your first day here, right? Did you just move in?”

“Yes, actually.” Konton’s mom answered. “We just got a house over in the Greatwoods.”

“Well, in that case, don’t worry about paying.” Harmony told the group. “I told my dad that you’re new here, and he said everything’s on the house. As a welcoming gift.”

“Oh!” Carmen couldn’t help but express her glee.

“Tell him we said thank you.” Caroline instructed.

Konton, on the other hand, posed a question to her. “Your dad? Does he own the inn?”

“Kind of.” Harmony answered. “He runs the kitchen and cooks all the food. My mom runs the inn itself. They own this place together.” She gestured with a leg in the direction they had come from. “And the Sylveon at the front is Lucius, my older brother.”

“Wow.” His stepmom laughed after having had a sip from her mojito. “What a nice little family inn you have here!”

Harmony laughed a little and the response, and Konton could detect awkwardness in its tones. “Well, most of the businesses in Concordia are like this. But, uh, could I take your orders, now?”

Konton’s mom spoke up before either of the other two could. “Your waffles sound good right now. I’ll have those.”

“Good choice!” Harmony chirped. “My dad’s waffles are the undefeated best item on the menu.”

Konton considered this information. “If they’re that good, then I guess I should have them, too.”

“What peer pressure will do to you.” Harmony commented jokingly as she wrote his order down as well. Her red eyes flicked over to Carmen. “And yourself?”

“Your fileted Magikarp, please.” she ordered as she handed Harmony her menu.

“Not a bad choice, either.” the waitress remarked. With three menus in her paws now, she made to leave. “My dad’s pretty quick about what he does, but it’ll still be a while until it’s ready.”

“That’s not a problem.” Carmen replied. “We can wait.” Harmony shot her a grin before leaving.

Time passed, and during this time the family talked. They talked about many things, including their new rooms, things they had noticed on their journey across the ocean to Concordia, what their plan was from here on out, and other such things.

“-and so I’ll be working from home most of the time.”

“Huh.” Konton grunted. “That’s way better than your old job, stepmom.” He turned to his biological parent. “What about you? Have you found a job?”

The fluffy Fire-Type shook her head. “I’ll be staying home, doing motherly things. For now, that is.”

“Oh. Well, okay.” Konton pondered this, but for the third time that evening, was cut off by Harmony’s arrival.

“Hellooo, one and all. I have two plates of waffles here, and a Magikarp filet for the biped among us.”

“Thanks.” Konton said quietly as Harmony nimbly placed his plate in front of him. His mom had already begun chowing down, and his stepmom would have as well if she had her food yet.

“I’ll come around when you’re done and relieve you of your dishes. Until then, enjoy!” As Harmony left, Konton’s stepmom got his attention and gestured to the Dark-Type.

“So, what about her?”

“Huh?” Konton asked.

“She looks like she’s about your age. You think you’ll end up in school with her? It’s good to have a friend you know ahead of time.”

He shook his head. “There’s five high schools in Concord, stepmom. And that’s assuming she goes to one of them; there’s two or three elsewhere in Concordia. So that’s about a twelve percent chance I’m in the same school as her, let alone in one of her classes.”

“That many in Concord, huh?” Konton’s mom questioned. “I wonder why the education system’s so centralized.”

“Beats me.” Konton said through a mouthful of waffle. “But I do know one thing: she wasn’t lying about these waffles. They _are_ good.”

They continued eating in relative silence, which was a symptom of their hunger. As promised, Harmony showed up once again once they were finished and relieved them of their dishes.

“How were the waffles?” she inquired.

“Divine.” Caroline commented.

“What she said.” Konton agreed. With his belly full, his body was beginning to realize how tired it was.

Having collected all the plates, Harmony spoke, “Well, this is the part where I would normally bring up the bill, but that won’t be happening, will it? Welcome to Concordia!”

“Thanks.” Konton spoke as the Umbreon began walking away. Little did he know, this was far from the last he’d be seeing of her.

Carmen was the first to stand up from her seat. “Well, let’s head home. We’ve got some rooms to test.”


	2. The First Day

_**Dialdies - 6th of Doublus** _

It was a crisp morning. Konton walked amongst the dewy grass and damp dirt, with a backpack slung onto his back and a paper bag with a delicious lunch in it clenched in his maw. His pace was as brisk as the sunny Greatwoods, and his destination was within sight: the elevated monorail station ahead of him.

He had already gone over this several times with his parents, doing frequent fact-checking and clarification online. Concordia’s monorail system did not cost money or require a ticket of any sort, and from the stop nearest to his house it was a short monorail ride to school, no stops along the way. He was to catch the monorail heading east; the one heading west would take him all the way around Concordia and back around to his stop.

His paws left the soil beneath and met the concrete of the stairs that would take him up to the elevated platform where he would wait for the monorail. They went in a spiral pattern around the elevator that was meant for those who couldn’t use the stairs. As he reached the top, he took note of the other Pokemon present, eleven of them by his count. He joined their ranks waiting for the monorail, becoming the twelfth. On the other side of the double monorail tracks was the Pokemon waiting for the westbound one.

As Konton sat himself down on the marble floor, he produced his phone from a side compartment in his bag and checked his new messages, finding a good luck message from his stepmom, who hadn’t been awake to see him that morning. He texted “Thx” back before putting it away once again as he heard the sound of a monorail approaching from the west.

The monorail slowed to a stop in the station and opened its doors to let passengers in, as one would expect. Konton trotted in along with the other eleven Pokemon with him and took a seat. There was a delay before a warning sound came on, signalling the closing of the doors. Once the process was complete, the train started once again.

“Hello, and welcome aboard the Concordian Public Monorail System. For your safety and the safety of others, please remain in your seat while the train is in motion. If you’re standing, please hold onto the hand rails and stay clear of the doors while-”

The young Electric-Type tuned out the voice and began observing his fellow passengers. Across the cabin from his seat was a Vicreebel reading a newspaper. Closer to the other end of the cabin was a Weavile sharpening her claws idly. Next to him there was a tiny Umbreon on her Nintendo Switch, with her school bag beneath her on the floor, partially covered by her bushy tail.

Wait a minute… a small frame and bushy tail… wasn’t she the Umbreon that had waited on them the day they moved in?

“Umm… hello.” he blurted out. Oh, dear Arceus. Social interaction.

The Umbreon’s head turned slightly so her big, red eyes could comfortably meet his smaller, darker ones. A look of confusion dominated her face. “Can I help you?” she quietly asked.

“Do you recognize me?” he asked. Wow, splendid. He could _not_ have worded that any more weirdly.

The question made her brow furrow. “Aren’t you that new Jolteon who came to our inn a few days ago?”

He nodded, relieved she had caught on. It would have been awkward explaining it to her.

She blinked. “Cool.” She returned to her Switch.

Konton was at a loss for words. That… was it? Determined to hold a proper conversation despite his ineptness when it came to this kind of stuff, he posed another question.

“Your name’s Harold, right?”

She looked back at him from her Switch with a deadpan look. “No. It’s Harmony. Harold is a boy’s name.”

Good fuck, did he feel stupid. “Oh… sorry.”

Thankfully, she didn’t seem offended, and quickly moved things along. “And you’re… uh…”

“Konton.” he finished for her.

“Right, Konton. I remembered it was something foreign.” She peeked out of the window across the cabin from them, from which they could see the towering buildings of Concord in the distance. “What school are you going to?”

“South End High School.” He recited from memory.

“Cool. That’s my school.”

His ears perked up at this new piece of information. “Could… could I go there with you?”

She blinked at him. “Do you not know the way?”

“Erm...” There was a pregnant pause. “Well, no.”

She stared into him, her tail swishing slowly over her bag. “Sure.”

He didn’t know why he was doing this, really. He supposed he was intimidated by the idea of a new school. This was his first time in a school full of strangers since his first day of kindergarten. So, it would be nice to come in with a familiar face, albeit one he had only met once a few days ago.

Speaking of, he glanced at the small Umbreon again, who was now looking out the window. She was certainly a lot more quiet than she had been while serving him and his parents. He guessed that if one had a job where they interacted with customers frequently, one was expected to be a bit more chipper than they usually are.

“Attention all passengers,” the voice came on again, “we are now arriving at Concord. For those of you standing, please-”

Konton tuned out the voice again. There was a subway system where he came from, so he understood the etiquette of coming on and off of a public train system. Once the monorail had come to a stop, there was a pause before all the doors slid open, permitting them to leave. Konton saw Harmony immediately jump up out of her seat, slinging her bag over her shoulder in the process, and briskly make her way to the nearest door.

“H-hey, wait!” he called out. His voice made Harmony jump, and she stopped to let him catch up with her.

“Sorry. Force of habit.” she explained with a sheepish grin. Konton nodded in understanding, and the two continued out of the train together.

The teenage duo marched down from the large, bustling Concord station and into Concord itself. Known as the heart of Concordia, it was dominated by streets and buildings, resembling Konton’s home city.

“C’mon, I know a shortcut.” Harmony said without looking at Konton. She picked up her pace and headed for an alley in between two office buildings, with her Jolteon companion trailing behind. From there, they took a few turns and cut through a park, and they had arrived at South End High School.

“That… certainly was quick.” Konton commented as he observed the steady flow of students entering the building.

“When you’ve been going here for a few years, you pick up stuff like that.” the Dark-Type explained. Konton knew one thing for certain: he would be using that route from this day forward.

The Eeveelutions continued towards the school, merging into the tide of students already there. Once they were in the school building proper, however, just like that, the small Umbreon was gone. Vanished. Disappeared into thin air. Konton looked around for her, but found only the faces of strangers. Alarmed, but not yet panicking, he retreated over near the wall of the school, where there was less traffic and he would be less of an obstruction.

He unlocked his phone and checked where his homeroom was. It had been emailed to him the week previous. He pulled up the email, which told him he was to go to room L203. Putting his phone back in his bag, he slipped back into the traffic and trekked to his homeroom.

“ _L203… L203...”_ He kept repeating the room number in his mind as he scrutinized the hallways around him. It didn’t take him long to reach the center of the school: the cafeteria. From there, the traffic of students began to split off towards two different directions: one group headed to a left set of hallways and the other headed toward the right set of hallways.

“ _Um… well, the “L” probably signifies that the room is toward the left, so…”_ and thus, he made his way to the left of the school where he found that his theory turned out to be true, as all room numbers he saw began with the letter “L”. This reassured him that he was making good progress thus far.

“ _L101… L102… L103…”_ No luck in finding the exact room so far. The hallways around him were… well, typical of the usual high school setting. There were students talking amongst each other in the hallways. He tried his best to avoid those groups of people walking together much more slowly than the rest of the crowd. He always hated how inconsiderate they were. There were some walking alone in complete silence, just trying to get to their homeroom as quickly as possible. Others were fumbling around in their lockers that lined the hallways… all in all, completely normal high school stuff.

“ _L113… L114… L115…_ ” Then there was him: stumbling around like a freshman on their first day. After having more than enough social interaction for one morning, he cringed at the thought of asking for directions. Now he wished he came in earlier to learn to navigate the unfamiliar surroundings, but what’s done is done. Nonetheless, he picked up his pace, not wanting to be late on the first day of class.

“ _Ding dong!_ ” He heard the noise from the intercom... and it filled him with the most uneasy feeling. He quickly pulled out his phone to confirm his fears: it was 9:59. That was the one-minute warning bell.

“ _L121… L122… L123… L124… Arceus damn it! Where is it?!”_ He referenced his phone once again. Yep, it clearly said “Room L203”. Now where the heck was- wait, that 2…

“ _Are you kidding me?! There’s a staircase right in front of me!”_ Thanks to the excitement he had earlier with the Umbreon waitress, and it just being early in the morning for him in general, it completely slipped his mind that his school had another floor… and now he had less than a minute to get there. Making use of his Jolteon speed, he dashed up the stairs and practically threw himself onto the second floor.

“ _L224… L223… Yes! I’m on the right track-”_

 _“Beeeeeeeeeep!”_ And that was the final bell… Konton cringed at the extended beep, but made an effort to push himself further, going faster than he thought he was capable of.

“ _L205… L204… L203!”_ There it was! He finally found the room. But… he didn’t plan on how he was going to stop himself from going at what felt like light speed. He tried to create friction by using his claws on the ground, but it was no use. He found himself crashing face-first into the recycling bin placed outside the classroom, creating quite possibly the loudest crashing sound he has ever heard.

“Excuse me?” He picked himself off the ground. He looked around him. Luckily, no one was outside the hallways during his incident. The same couldn’t be said about the people who were right inside the classroom… with his head held down, he began his walk of shame… Arceus, he felt like such an idiot-

“Excuse me! Jolteon! Are you ok?” yelled a voice from within the classroom. He looked up and saw that all eyes were on him… which made him want to curl up into a ball and pretend he didn’t exist… though the number of eyes that were on him were little. He counted seven-ish Pokemon present? That number seems low...

“Hello?! Can you hear me?!” The Southern Occidentis accent rang through his ears. It was the teacher that was talking to him! He spotted a Floatzal sitting at the front desk.

“I-I’m sorry! I-I c-c-couldn’t find t-the r-r-r-room and I d-didn’t w-w-want t-to be l-l-late…”

“Um… we don’t take attendance for homeroom…” What followed was a wave of giggles that came from the present students there.

“ _Oh, you gotta be fu-”_

“Wait, are you Konton? Come to my front desk.” He beckoned him over. If his face wasn’t covered with fur, it’d be bright red. He began his Walk of Shame toward the front desk, avoiding the eye contact of anyone in the room.

“ _Yeah… I’m Konton…_ ” He spoke so quietly, not even the most well trained Audino could hear him, but the teacher was somehow able to pick it up. 

“Yeah, you’re the new student here. I’m supposed to give you this.” The Floatzal handed him a few slips of paper. Scanning the first one, it held all the information he needed to know about being a student here. It listed all four of his classes and their room numbers for the semester: Drama, Calculus, Hospitality, and his main language course: Lower Lanakilan. The rest just contained health documents and all the other garbage he would let his parents fill out later.

“Oh, thanks.” yelped Konton as he slipped the papers into his bag.

“That’s just the stuff from Orientation Day… Uh, That’s all I needed you for. Make sure you fill that out and turn it in to me next week.”

“Oh, thank you…” He turned away from the teacher and toward the rest of the class. Much to the shock of his social anxiety, no one was staring at him getting ready to laugh at him. Everyone was spread out across the room on their phones or laptops, minding their own business. The desks were arranged in horizontal rows of three, split in the middle evenly, with a few miscellaneous tables in the back and sides. He took a few steps forward… but quickly felt intimidated. Where would it be ok for him to sit?

“Oh yeah, you can sit wherever you want… or wherever… I don’t care as long as you don’t cause any trouble.” The teacher’s voice boomed so loudly in his head, he jumped a little.

“O-Oh, really? T-Thank you…” He scurried off all the way to the back row and tried to take one the desks on the left corner. Unfortunately, he didn’t notice the Midday Lycanroc already having the seat to himself. With no other options, and not wanting to draw anymore potential attention to himself, he took the empty seat next to him… _wait, no! Why would I sit next to him?!_ While it was too late to do anything about it now, the Lycanroc seemed too engrossed into the game he was playing on his laptop. It was some sort of strategy game Konton didn’t recognize. He breathed a sigh of relief. He always hated the first day.

He started to take greater note of his surroundings. Given all the Southern Occidental decorations spread out across the room, this was definitely a Southern Occidental course. Tables depicting the rules of the “Present Perfect” and “Preterite Form” littered the walls along with other jargon that he couldn’t recognize… hm… that would explain his instructor’s accent...

His eyes fell on the clock on top of the door. 10:10. He had 20 minutes until his next class. He reached into his bag and shamelessly pulled out Volume 7 of _Fullmetagross Alchemist_ , one of his favorite mangas of all time. Reading manga (and watching anime) was his favorite pastime, after all.

Being so engrossed in the deep story he was reading, he almost didn’t even notice the bell ring for his next class. He begrudgingly bookmarked his place. Time always flew too fast and he was _just_ getting to a really good part. He threw the book into his bag and pulled out his schedule.

“ _Hm… G101…_ ” He hustled to the front door with the other students and began to make his way towards his destination. Now that he’s become more accustomed to the school, he knew he wouldn’t have too much trouble reaching his next class.

 _“G101… G101… G101… Wait… G…”_ _  
_Where was the G section?

............

  
The smells of subpar foods filled Konton’s nostrils as he carried his lunch to the cafeteria (it made him grateful that his mom was willing to prepare lunch for him every day). The last two classes sped by really fast, mostly because it was nothing but introductory stuff. He also mostly kept to himself, keeping his manga close at hand. It blocked most of the noise and filler from his surroundings… just the way he liked it. In fact, he had his manga volume out while standing in line right now. He didn’t know how he’d survive without it...

After opening a pair of double doors, he was presented with the cafeteria. Now that he had the time, he took a minute to absorb his surroundings. Coming from the right side of the room, his left provided an entrance to the kitchen where less fortunate students could get their food from. His right held the front entrance of the school itself. Taking note of the tables, they filled the room and had enough seats for them to fill with ten different students. From where Konton stood, there were three tables to his left and four to his right. The rows extended forward from his point until they reached the other side of the room. And they all were… filled with students.

It was overwhelming, to say the least. Not due to the number of people, but because he couldn’t find himself a place to sit. He could spot groups of all sorts of people filling in all the high school stereotypes. Worst of all, every time he thought he found an empty seat, some other Pokemon always beat him to it. A fear quickly filled his mind: was he going to have to sit on the floor?

But something caught the corner of his eye before he had time to panic. It was her… the same particularly small frame, large tail…. There was no doubt that this was the same Umbreon he had run into before. She was sitting farther back where the seats tended to thaw out with people-how could he forget the back seats were always the most empty? Nonetheless, there she was, playing on the same Switch she was using earlier during the monorail ride. Her own homemade lunch sitting in front of her. Gasping for any sort of comfort or familiarity, he decided to try to sit next to her.

He could already feel the strain of his social anxiety fill him as he placed his lunch bag across from hers and sat on the chair. The unexpected noise created by him from his actions was enough to catch her attention.

“Oh… Hi.” she spoke, pausing her game and fixating her red eyes on him. 

“U-Uh, hi… is it ok if I sit here?” 

“Oh, yeah. No one really sits back here anyway…” Konton felt some of the weight lift off his shoulders. Her approval, no matter how small, was the most relieving thing he felt all day. He adjusted himself on his seat and began digging into his lunch bag. He became acquainted with its contents: A sandwich, a bag of chips, a milkbox, and a banana. It was simple but filling. He began to chomp down his sandwich.

“So… how have your classes been?” asked Konton, desperate to break the silence.

“They’ve been good… what classes do you have?” At this point, she had returned to playing on her Switch, stopping every once in a while to pop food in her mouth.

“Well, I had Drama earlier today and Calculus was my last class… I think I have Hospitality next?”

“Cool. I have that one next too.”

“Oh, nice. We should go up there together.”

“Yeah.”

“...”

And… there goes the conversation. While Konton’s mind frantically tried to salvage this interaction, a noise intruded his ears.. Was it… laughter? He looked around and noticed the Mienshao sitting at Harmony’s left side having a laughing fit (he didn’t really bother acknowledging her beforehand). Her laughter kept escalating until she had her head down on the table trying to contain herself.

“Uh… Katelin, are you ok?” asked Harmony. She tilted her head trying to get a view of the Mienshao’s face. After a few moments, Katelin lifted her head off the table after calming quite a bit down.

“I’m sorry, it’s just… you guys are so fucking pathetic.” It was all she could muster before she started laughing again.

“Um… do you know her?”

“Yeah, her name’s Katelin. She’s a friend of mine.” More silence ensued between the two Eeveelutions as they waited for Katelin to finish up her laughing.

“I’m sorry… that was just so funny.” They continued to stare at her blankly. “So anyway, you never introduced me to your boyfriend, Harmony.”

Harmony chuckled at the assertion. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

“Hm… I would be disappointed, but yeah, I can’t see this working out very well...”

“Dream on, Katelin. I barely even know him.”

“Well, that’s no excuse. People date each other on day one all the time.” She began to eye Konton’s figure. He grew a lot less intimidated by Harmony thanks to her… but that only shifted his fears towards this Katelin character. “What’s the worst he can do to you anyway? Look how scrawny he is!”

“Hey! I… uh…” Konton tried to defend himself, but there was no point in lying… he gained another good laugh from Katelin. His ears drooped.

“Do you even know his name?” the Fighting-Type questioned.

Harmony visibly racked her brain for an answer. “Yeah, it’s… uh… Kon...ton?”

“Yeah, that’s my name.” he confirmed.

“Alright, Konton,” Katelin began, “where did you come from? I haven’t seen you around before.”

“Uh, I moved here from Greyhaven. We got here a few days ago...”

“Oh, Greyhaven? That’s actually pretty far out…” And silence conquered the table once again, with only the sounds of eating from the three of them breaking it every once in a while.

“Hold on, I’m gonna throw my food away.” announced Katelin as she grabbed her lunch tray and walked away. Hm… Katelin didn’t sit well with Konton.

“Oh, uh, don’t feel bad about what she says. She doesn’t really mean it… it’s just her style.” Konton nodded his head with Harmony’s statement. He felt a little better about her… just a little.

Since no one was engaging Konton in any further conversation, he pulled out his manga volume once again and picked up where he left off. It was a risk to read while eating, to be sure, as one should always be mindful to take great care of their manga, but it was a risk he was willing to take. Unfortunately, just as he found his previous place, Katelin returned, and immediately took notice of the book.

“Hey, whatcha got there?” she asked. “Some sort of _weeb_ shit?”

That word rang in his head like an annoying church bell, making his ears fall backwards. “Well… I tend to read… manga and stuff…”

“Manga…? Oh! So you really are a weeb… interesting…” Konton cringed again at that word. He hated it with all his being. He stared daggers at the Mienshao in front of him.

“Woah there, Miltank-boy, it’s not like I care or anything. These two have severe gaming addictions.” Wait, these two…? “Oh yeah, I forgot about you, Colin. You’ve been really quiet over there!”

Konton turned to Harmony’s right side to see a Midday Form Lycanroc sitting at the seat beside her. He had his full attention on his laptop. Wait… he seemed a little familiar…

“Hey… weren’t you in my homeroom?” asked Konton.

“Huh, what?” The Lycanroc, taking his eyes off the computer for the first time in this entire period, looked at his surroundings, puzzled. “Maybe? I don’t know…”

Harmony looked up at them. “Oh yeah. This is Colin, Konton. He’s my other friend-”

Harmony was interrupted by the sound of the bell ringing, signalling that lunch was over. Luckily, the two of them were done with their food already, they just had to throw their trash out as they left.

“Uh, I’ll tell you more about him tomorrow, I guess. We should probably make it up to our next class.” Harmony diverted her attention towards her other friends. “Hey, what’s your guys’ next class?”

“Shit, I don’t know. Give me a sec.” the Mienshao spoke while Colin put away his laptop and pulled out his schedule. 

“It says I have Lower Lanakilan next…” replied Colin.

“Oh! I have Hospitality!” Katelin announced.

“Really?! Yes!” Konton was taken aback by how much more chipper the Umbreon got upon hearing the news. He guessed they were pretty close…

“Yeah, Colin over here not cool enough to be in 3rd-period Hospitality.” Colin grunted in the most ‘I am dead inside’ way possible.

Nonetheless, as Colin parted ways with them for Lower Lanakilan, the other three left together for their next class.


	3. Harmony's Evening

**_Dialdies - 6th of Doublus_ **

It had been just over an hour since Harmony returned from school. She was now in the safety of her room, free from questions from her mom about how her classes were, and from less-serious questions from her dad about how many boys she made out with. She wondered about that guy sometimes…

But, now for more pressing matters. She had no homework, and she wasn’t working tonight. Meaning that she could continue the epic castle she was building on Minecraft. And that was exactly why she was at her desk, on her computer, pulling up the Minecraft launcher.

Just as Minecraft was finished loading, though, a notification went off on Pestercord. She huffed as she pulled the social media app up and checked who was bothering her. The app was certainly aptly named.

Oh, hey, it was Colin who was messaging her. Well, she supposed she’d better answer.

_Sunshine &69: harmony _

_imlaughingharhar: what?_

She went back to Minecraft and selected her world before getting another notification.

_Sunshine &69: wheres katelin _

_Sunshine &69: is she at pokeball practice or something _

_imlaughingharhar: yes she is._

_Sunshine &69: damn _

Harmony chuckled a little at Colin’s despair. She knew what this was about.

_imlaughingharhar: you have some fire memes to send her? :P_

_Sunshine &69: yeah _

She had suspected as much. Colin and Katelin were more-or-less on the same page when it came to meme tastes.

_Sunshine &69: now i have to wait until shes done _

_Sunshine &69: oh well ill just continue my civ game until then _

_Sunshine &69: anyway how was hospitality with katelin and the new guy _

How _was_ Hospitality with Katelin and the new guy? Konton, she believed his name was? It was something like that.

_imlaughingharhar: it was ok._

_imlaughingharhar: just introductory stuff ._._

_imlaughingharhar: it’ll probably get more interesting when we actually start doing stuff._

_Sunshine &69: what even is hospitality _

_Sunshine &69: what do you learn in it _

_Sunshine &69: its been mentioned so much to me but i have no idea wtf it is _

Harmony facepawed. Colin was a smart cookie, but he was also really, really dumb sometimes.

_Sunshine &69: like are you learning how to be friendly and generous to strangers who walk into your house _

_Sunshine &69: hey so its a class on how to de-escalate breaking and entering situations _

_imlaughingharhar: -_-_

_imlaughingharhar: it’s a cooking class._

_Sunshine &69: oh _

_imlaughingharhar: hospitality as in being a good host by serving good food._

_Sunshine &69: that actually makes a lot more sense than i thought it would _

It was as Harmony said: a smart cookie, but also really, really dumb.

As Colin continued sending her messages, she hopped back over to her Minecraft tab and got her bearings. She was on the battlements, which she had just finished when she last logged off. She took a look around and remembered what she was doing next before hopping back over to Pestercord.

_Sunshine &69: kinda funny that youre learning that at school _

_Sunshine &69: like you in particular _

_imlaughingharhar: why?_

_Sunshine &69: your dad could teach it better, i bet _

Wow, way to insult their Hospitality teacher.

_imlaughingharhar: he actually applied for the job once._

_imlaughingharhar: i think a while back, before the current teacher applied._

_Sunshine &69: did he apply a second time _

_imlaughingharhar: no ;-;_

_imlaughingharhar: he didn’t want mom running this place alone._

_imlaughingharhar: that’s too much for one pokemon to handle._

_Sunshine &69: fair _

_Sunshine &69: well i hate to end this abruptly _

_Sunshine &69: but civ is calling my name _

_imlaughingharhar: as minecraft is calling mine =^_^=_

_Sunshine &69: are those supposed to be whiskers _

_imlaughingharhar: yep._

_Sunshine &69: ok _

_Sunshine &69: not going to question that _

_imlaughingharhar: have fun being communist greyhaven or whatever._

_Sunshine &69: and you have fun building the empire state building _

_imlaughingharhar: oh i wish._

_imlaughingharhar: but yeah bye._

And with that, the tiny Umbreon once again switched over to Minecraft, where she began to work on the next phase of her castle: the Guardian-infested moat.

She had sketched the whole thing out ahead of time. It was supposed to be both beautiful and functional, which weren’t traits that were always easy to combine in Minecraft. It was primarily made of stone bricks, with good amounts of cobblestone and dark oak. After the moat was done, she would be working on the garden. While lesser builders might just use some bone meal to make a pretty garden, Harmony was above such shortcuts. She had the flowers she wanted in mind, and she knew the pattern she wanted, so she would be making the whole thing manually.

The moat and garden collectively took three hours, interrupted by a single bathroom break and the occasional meme sent by Colin. When she was done, she took some screenshots and sent them to Colin, since he had specifically asked for regular updates on her castle. However, he was offline when she sent the images, so she wouldn’t be getting a response for a while.

“Dinner’s ready!” her dad suddenly announced, making her jump out of her seat. She quickly wheeled her chair around to behold the older Glaceon standing in her doorway.

“Dad! Don’t scare me like that!” Harmony berated. This just made him laugh.

“Come on downstairs. I made stir fry~!” Before Harmony could respond, he had vanished from the doorway, and could be heard going down the stairs. Oh, well. It wasn’t like this was the first time he had done that. Plus, her dad’s stir fry was kickass, so she couldn’t complain.

As she trudged down the stairs to the dining room, behind her followed her older brother, Lucius. Unlike the rest of the family, he actually wore clothes, namely a plaid golf shirt and jeans. The two of them sat down at the table with their mom, a Leafeon, who had presumably set it, and awaited their dad’s delivery of the stir fry from the kitchen.

“Aaaaand, here it is!” the upbeat Glaceon announced as he entered, carrying plates full of stir fry in his forepaws. This, of course, meant he had to walk on his hind legs, and while it was a little awkward, the Ice-Type had pretty much mastered it.

“First to be served are, of course, the lovely ladies among us.” her dad said once he reached the table. “Namely, my darling daughter and winsome wife!”

“Isn’t the alliteration a bit much, dad?” Harmony asked as her plate was put down in front of her.

“What she said.” her mom agreed. She was much more focused on the stir fry, though. It was one of her favourites, after all.

“Alright, alright, I was just having some fun.” her dad conceded as he got the last two plates. “And last but not least, myself and Lucius!”

“Thanks.” Lucius said plainly as he received his stir fry. He wasn’t much of a fan of the stuff, but he’d eat it.

As the nuclear family dug in, Lucius saw fit to start a conversation. “Did anyone else see Dick Johnson’s speech last night?”

“No.” Harmony admitted quietly. She had been streaming Outlast to Katelin and Colin.

Her mom rolled her eyes. “It was hardly a speech. Just a bunch of garbage.”

“Um, what did he say?” Harmony inquired. She didn’t really keep up with politics, but she knew enough to know that this Dick Johnson fellow was bad news. Umm… what was his position again?

Lucius was the one to answer Harmony’s question. “It was another spiel about how Concordia needs to be united. With Concord as its capital, of course.”

“Oh.” Harmony responded. Again, she wasn’t very invested in Concordia’s politics, so she didn’t know very much about Mr. Johnson’s ideas, but she had heard from her brother and mom consistently that this one in particular was awful.

As it was, at least by Harmony’s limited understanding, each different area of Concordia was independent, with its own elected government and policies in place. Dick Johnson, who as was already apparent, wasn’t popular with Harmony’s family, was the elected Overseer of Concord. The Pokémon of Concord loved the guy to bits, but outside of the city his ideas were… a lot less warmly welcomed. Mainly, his ideas about how Concordia should have one unified government in Concord.

“Mr. Johnson isn’t a bad guy,” their dad began, earning a huff from their mom, “but that idea is one I can’t agree with. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Concordia is getting on fine with its current system of government, so why implement something different?”

Lucius laughed and facepawed. Er, actually, he faceribboned. Sylveons can do that, apparently. “Dad, Harmony definitely got her disinterest in politics from you. He gave a detailed rebuttal on that point last moon cycle.”

“...He did?” the Glaceon spoke through a mouthful of stir fry. As he swallowed, he scratched the back of his neck. “Heheh… well, I’m no expert on this stuff.”

“It’s not like we agree with it.” the Leafeon at the table reassured her husband. Then she looked back at Lucius. “Did Overseer Snowden say anything on the matter?”

“Yeah.” Lucius nodded. “He pointed out how detached Concord is from the rest of Concordia, mostly.”

By now, Harmony had finished eating, as she had been talking the least. “May I please be excused?” she asked her mom.

“Not yet.” the Grass-Type responded. “You and your brother are cleaning up dinner tonight.”

“Oh, alright.” She had wondered, considering she and Lucius weren’t working tonight. Oh, well. Seeing Colin’s thoughts on her progress on her castle would have to be delayed. And Lucius was fun enough to be around.

As the family finished, Harmony started off with gathering their plates and taking them over to the dishwasher. Lucius came to join her in the kitchen just as she was putting the leftover stir fry in a bowl to be put in the fridge.

“First day was good?” the older Sylveon asked. Harmony nodded.

“Not very eventful. Well, except for the new kid who sat with us at lunch, which was cool.”

“A new kid? Neat.” Lucius responded as he got to washing the dishes. There weren’t very many, since they had only had stir fry.

“How was your day?” Harmony questioned. The obligatory inquiry.

Lucius sighed. “Jake and I broke up.”

“Oh no, you did?” Harmony had met Jake a few times. He and Lucius had seemed like a good match.

“Yeah.” Lucius stated dismally. “He was being really distant and weird, and when I finally asked him about it, he told me that the spark was gone for him.”

Harmony pondered her brother’s words. He and Lucius had seemed so good for each other. She had heard about the “spark is gone” reason a few times before, but still didn’t really understand it. Probably because she had never been in a romantic relationship herself.

Lucius spoke up again as he finished up the dishes. “I’ll just have to get over it, huh? It’s over, and there’s nothing I can do about it.”

“That’s a good mindset, Lucius.” Harmony encouraged as she started the dishwasher. If there was one thing she knew, positive reinforcement went a long way when Lucius was going through a breakup. This was his sixth, after all.

“The right person for me is out there, I know it.” Lucius voiced. “It’s just a matter of finding them.”

“I don’t know how you have the energy to keep looking.” Harmony stated. Again, she had never been in a relationship herself.

Having finished washing the stir fry pots and pans, Lucius was now wiping down the counters. “Oh, I just try really hard.” He began snickering. “Heheh… hard.”

Harmony made a retching sound to get the point across to her brother. Fortunately, he got it, and there was silence for a few minutes before Lucius spoke up again.

“I probably don’t have to say this, but this stays between us, right?”

“Yeah, don’t sweat it.” Harmony reassured. “I haven’t told a soul about your love life ever since your first girlfriend. I’m not too keen on breaking my streak.”

“Thanks, sis.” Lucius responded. “I appreciate it.”

“Darn right you do.” the tiny Umbreon stated as she grabbed the broom and began sweeping. She didn’t like hiding things from her parents, but the alternative was worse in this case, so she kept her mouth shut.

The sweeping was the last kitchen chore that had to be done, so Lucius saw himself out. “See ya, Harms. Thanks for helping out.”

“It’s not like I had a choice.” Harmony pointed out to her brother, but he was gone by the time she had finished her sentence. Now alone in the kitchen, with her parents presumably back at their posts in the inn and restaurant, the tiny Umbreon dutifully finished cleaning the kitchen before retreating back upstairs to her room.

Leaving her door ajar, she hopped back onto her computer to see if Colin had responded to her screenshots of her castle yet. Sure enough, he had.

_Sunshine &69: damn _

_Sunshine &69: thats lit af _

_Sunshine &69: i would have made the moat a bit wider but that isnt too much of a concern really _

Now that he mentioned it, yeah, she had made the moat a bit narrow, hadn’t she.

_imlaughingharhar: damn you’re right >.< _

_imlaughingharhar: i’ll see what i can do about making it wider._

_Sunshine &69: yeah but besides that its awesome _

Harmony didn’t have much time to pay attention to Colin, though, because while she was at dinner, she had also gotten a bunch of messages from her other comrade: Katelin. Arceus, she wished she would change her username.

_bitch: harhar_

_bitch: haaaaarhaaaaar_

_bitch: are you at dinner or some shit_

_imlaughingharhar: yeah, i was_ _ಠ_ಠ_

_bitch: damn you do be usin the advanced faces tho_

_imlaughingharhar: your impatience called for it._

_bitch: that wasnt impatience_

_bitch: impatience is when i send thirty messages_

_bitch: not three_

_imlaughingharhar: true._

_bitch: but thats not why were here_

_bitch: were here to talk about that new guy_

_imlaughingharhar: what?_

_bitch: the new guy_

_bitch: kolton_

_imlaughingharhar: i’m pretty sure it was konton._

_bitch: that isnt a name bruv_

_imlaughingharhar: he’s from greyhaven._

_imlaughingharhar: ofc they would have different names -_-_

_imlaughingharhar: stop being so culturally narrow-minded._

_bitch: ouch_

_bitch: youve once again obliterated me with those big words_

_imlaughingharhar: i’m just that kind of pokemon._

_bitch: but anyway are you sure it was konton_

_bitch: i woulda been willing to bet money it was kolton_

_imlaughingharhar: no, i distinctly remember._

_imlaughingharhar: we met on the monorail, and i was able to remember his name._

_bitch: oooooooo_

_imlaughingharhar: what?_

_bitch: meaning you knew him before??_

_imlaughingharhar: he came to the restaurant a few days ago._

_bitch: and you remembered his name_

_bitch: idk man that isnt what id call platonic_

_imlaughingharhar: of all the things you could have used as evidence of me liking him._

_imlaughingharhar: you chose that???_

_bitch: yeah now that its out of my head its pretty stupid isnt it_

_imlaughingharhar: yeah especially when you consider that he isn’t even my type._

_bitch: what even is your type_

Harmony had thought about this question before. But she could never really come up with a satisfying answer, since she still had zero experience in this department.

_imlaughingharhar: idk_

_bitch: then how can you rule out him being your type_

_imlaughingharhar: eh._

_imlaughingharhar: true, i guess._ _¯\\_(ツ)_/¯_

_imlaughingharhar: you learn something new every day._

_bitch: wow im so proud of my little harhar_

_bitch: shes Learning_

_bitch: it even called for a capital L_

_imlaughingharhar: look at me go._

_imlaughingharhar: how was pokeball practice?_

_bitch: thats a sudden topic change if ive ever seen one_

_imlaughingharhar: we had pretty much exhausted the topic of konton._

_imlaughingharhar: also idk about you but it was getting kind of uncomfortable._

_bitch: yeah true_

_bitch: but to answer your question it was pretty tiring_

_imlaughingharhar: isn’t it usually?_

_bitch: well yeah_

_bitch: but saying that it was the same as always sounds dismissive_

_bitch: this way i was at least saying something about it_

_bitch: we have a game in a few days_

_imlaughingharhar: who are you up against_

_bitch: owira_

Oh, shoot. Harmony knew what that meant.

_imlaughingharhar: O.O_

_imlaughingharhar: that’s your dad’s team, right?_

_bitch: yeah_

_bitch: apparently theyre really good this year too_

_imlaughingharhar: yeesh._

_imlaughingharhar: as if you didn’t have enough reason to dread that game already._

_bitch: troodat_

_bitch: oh how im looking forward to it_

_bitch: i think im going to go complain to my mom about it now_

That was to be expected. Katelin’s mom understood her grievances with her dad far better than Harmony or anyone else could.

_imlaughingharhar: ok._

_imlaughingharhar: bye for now._

_bitch: bye_

With the conversation over, Harmony logged off of Pestercord and turned to her drawing. She was working on a sketch of a landscape, which included some trees and a meadow with a house in it. She was a good portion of the way done; she had hoped to finish it that night.

And finish it she did. It took her three and a half hours, to be certain, but it was satisfying to finally get it done. As she gazed pridefully upon her finished sketch, though, she let out a wide-mouthed yawn. Her bed was calling to her.

With the slowness of movement one generally possesses when tired, Harmony shut off her laptop, put her sketchbook away, and turned off the lights in her room. Then, without further ado, she dragged herself to her bed and clambered under the covers, wiggling around a bit to get comfy before letting out a long, relaxed sigh.

Tomorrow was another day.


End file.
